Public Defender's Office begins visits to hospitals in Ceará.

Ceara 247 - Complaints about overcrowding, poor emergency care, and a lack of materials to perform medical and surgical procedures prompted the Public Defender's Office of the State of Ceará to begin a series of visits to public hospitals in the state, with the aim of investigating the situation of patients and healthcare professionals.

The first visit was made today, the 13th, to the General Hospital of Fortaleza (HGF). Managed by the state government, the HGF is one of the units that receives the most complex cases, serving patients from Ceará as well as neighboring states.

According to the supervisor of the Human Rights and Collective Actions Center of the Public Defender's Office, Aluízio Jácome, the overcrowding in the emergency room was evident during the visit. There were 35 people receiving care in the unit's hallways.

In a statement, the HGF management explains that, due to the high demand for patients in the emergency room, it conducts "prioritization triage based on severity criteria." The emergency room alone receives approximately 1,8 patients per month.

According to Jácome, healthcare professionals reported a lack of materials for performing certain procedures. Last week, the HGF (Hospital Geral de Fortaleza) management had decided to suspend elective surgeries due to the absence of these supplies, but professionals at the unit told public defenders that surgeries of this type had been performed in the last two days.

“We can’t say the problem is solved because, two days prior, surgeries were postponed due to a lack of supplies. This situation requires vigilance from institutions like the Public Defender’s Office and action to resolve the situation quickly and definitively,” says the supervisor.

Governor Camilo Santana is meeting this afternoon with the interim Secretary of Health, Henrique Javi, and hospital directors to discuss the problem. By the end of the week, the governor intends to meet with President Dilma Rousseff to talk about the situation of health units in Ceará. This information comes from federal deputy José Guimarães (PT-CE), in Brasília.

Tomorrow, the 14th, public defenders will visit the Dr. José Frota Institute (IJF), considered the largest emergency and urgent care hospital in Ceará. The unit is managed by the city of Fortaleza and receives patients from all over the state.

This week, photos of patients being treated on the floor of the emergency room were released on social media. Mayor Roberto Cláudio was at the hospital yesterday, the 12th, and stated on his Facebook page that 48 stretchers had been acquired for technical reserve and that stretchers will be available 24 hours a day in the emergency room courtyard. 

With EBC